Mandatory Immediate Open Access for Academic Papers

*The information on this page is updated regularly.

From fiscal year 2025, recipients of competitive research funding that fall under the mandatory immediate open access requirement must make their research outputs, such as peer‑reviewed academic papers and any underlying data required for transparency and reproducibility, freely accessible to anyone immediately upon publication in an academic journal (i.e., to be open access).
This was formulated in February 2024 under 学術論文等の即時オープンアクセスの実現に向けた基本方針（Japanese Only）

【Reference】
・「学術論文等の即時オープンアクセスの実現に向けた基本方針」（統合イノベーション戦略推進会議令和6年2月16日決定）の実施にあたっての具体的方策（Japanese Only）
・学術論文等の即時オープンアクセスの実現に向けた基本方針、及び学術論文等の即時オープンアクセスの実現に向けた基本方針の実施にあたっての具体的方策に関するFAQ（Japanese Only）

Targeted competitive research funding

[Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)] Grants‑in‑Aid for Scientific Research (科学研究費助成事業)
[Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)] Strategic Basic Research Programs (戦略的創造研究推進事業)
[Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED)] Strategic Creative Research Promotion Program (戦略的創造研究推進事業)
[Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)] Emerging Research Support Program (創発的研究支援事業)

Academic papers subject to mandatory Open Access

Peer‑reviewed academic papers (peer‑reviewed research articles published in electronic journals, including the author’s accepted manuscript or the publisher’s final version where applicable)

Options to make academic papers Open Access

１）Gold OA: Open access publication by the publisher
　 ○ The publisher’s version (the published article) is made openly accessible.
　▲ The author may be responsible for Article Processing Charges (APCs).

By using the "APC Support Program", it may be possible to publish OA without bearing the full APC or with only a partial contribution.
If you plan to submit to journals published by Springer‑Nature, Elsevier, Wiley, ACS, or other high‑impact publishers, please check the dedicated APC support site before submitting your manuscript.

２）Green OA: Deposit in the Tohoku University institutional repository "TOUR"
　○ No cost to the author.
　○ A DOI will be assigned.
　▲ Repository publication may take some time.
　▲ Generally, only the author’s accepted manuscript may be deposited.

Those considering registration and publication in an institutional repository should refer to Open Access Support > Repository Submission Guide for Researchers.

Regarding research data subject to the mandate

・Research data required for transparency and reproducibility and explicitly mandated for disclosure by the author guidelines or publishing policies of the journal that publishes the article are subject to this requirement.
　*Data not intended for disclosure, such as materials submitted only for peer review, are excluded.
・For information on publishing research data (underlying data), please refer to the Data Lake "IZUMI" (Research Data Infrastructure System). *Accessible on‑campus or via VPN.
・For the management and utilization of research data, please refer to "Management and Utilization of Research Data at Tohoku University". *Accessible on‑campus or via VPN.

Contact Information

Tohoku University Library, Open Access Promotion Section
E-mail: lib.open[@]grp.tohoku.ac.jp　（Please replace '[@]' with '@'）